Lady Toppers Assistant Coach Chris Tinius described this year’s senior class as “winners.”

After all, that’s what they’ve done more than any other class in school history.

The team’s seven seniors have contributed to 53 of Head Coach Jason Neidell’s 105 wins with the program. That total includes a 30-8-5 record in the Sun Belt Conference and the program’s first and only Sun Belt regular season championship in 2007.

They’ve also seen several players named to the all-conference team, numerous Sun Belt players of the week and even a nominee for the Lowe’s Senior Class Award.

Senior midfielder Kellie Walker currently ranks second in program history with 67 points and third in assists with 22.

Senior defender Morgan Thomas said this class’s objective has always been to leave a legacy.

“We wanted to leave shoes that are hard to fill,” she said. “This class has so much passion for soccer. We love to play and be on the field.”

Neidell said these seniors are the class that have put Lady Toppers soccer on the map on a national scale.

But Neidell said the statistics and records won’t be the only thing the seniors will be remembered for.

He said there’s more to the story than what people see in the record books, and the identity of the Lady Toppers program can be traced to this senior class.

“They’ve laid the foundation of the values and character that we want our team to have and the identity that is Lady Topper soccer,” he said following the team’s 2-0 win over North Texas on Sunday, when the class was honored with a Senior Day celebration. “Regardless of what happens from now on, they’ve left a lasting impression on Western Kentucky soccer.”

Senior defender Rachel Friedman said she didn’t expect her class to become as successful as it did.

“When we got here, we were all pretty shy and didn’t have a lot of confidence,” she said. “When some of us started starting, we were all shocked that we were even going to get to play as freshmen. We didn’t expect to have as much of an impact as we did.”

Tinius said the seniors have always been good players, but they had to go through an evolution process during their careers.

“Everyone goes through one of those,” he said. “But I think watching them grow as people and watching them hone their leadership skills and mentor the young players has been really neat to see. That’s how you leave a legacy.”

Following tonight’s regular season finale against Middle Tennessee State, the Lady Toppers enter the postseason looking to earn their first ever NCAA tournament berth.

But Neidell said regardless of what the team does in tonight’s game or in the conference tournament next week, these Lady Toppers will leave a lasting legacy.

“They are the class that all else will be compared to,” he said. “They’ve set an example that younger players want to emulate in every class and with our recruits as well.”

Friedman said she hopes the program will continue to grow and improve once this senior class is gone, much as it developed during their time at Western.

“It’s definitely going to be tough to replace this class, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done,” Tinius said. “We have a lot of great kids in our program.”